Getting user input for filename loop

This is a discussion on Getting user input for filename loop within the C++ Programming forums, part of the General Programming Boards category; I have a program that prompts the user for an existing text file that they want my program to modify. ...

Getting user input for filename loop

I have a program that prompts the user for an existing text file that they want my program to modify. Currently, when the user puts in a file that can't be found, the program displays an error message then quits. I would prefer to put the prompt in a while loop and while the file can't be found, prompt the user to try to input the file name again. I set up my loop but it doesn't work. THis is how I tried it:

Code:

cin>>input_file;
fin.open(input_file);
while (fin.fail())
{
fin.close();
cout<<"Error opening input file. Did you input the wrong name or path?\n";
cout<<"\nEnter the name of the text file: \n\n";
cin>>input_file;
fin.open(input_file);
}

At first I didn't have the fin.close() at the top of the loop but added it when the loop was getting stuck in an infinite loop. I'm thinking that I might have to rename the file variable name each time, i.e.: input_file, input_file2, input_file3...